The pair have been dating for two and a half years and, speaking candidly to the Sunday People, she said he was her perfect match.

“We click, he just gets me,” she said. “I’m dead loud and he’s so much quieter and more reserved.

“I said to him the other day: ‘I bet when I came into your life, it was like a whirlwind.’

“He said: ‘Yeah and you haven’t stopped talking for two and a half years.’”

The actress’s face lights up as she talks about her other half, but she admits being in a long distance ­relationship can be tough – the ­midfielder is signed to Chelsea but is on loan to Watford at the ­moment.

She said: “It is hard but then again it’s all I’ve ever known. He’s been on loan to different places so it just depends where he is.”

Brooke’s cast mate Michelle Keegan, 26, got engaged to former Towie star Mark Wright, 26, earlier this year, but the soap star insists she has no plans to follow suit.

“I’m settled how I am and to me a ring doesn’t make a difference,” she explained.

“A lot of people think it makes someone sound or look a lot happier if they get engaged or married but it doesn’t really bother me.

“If you get on you get on, if you argue you argue.”

Children are also a far-away thought.

“I like kids when I can give them back,” Brooke laughed. “I have a lot of children around me, my friend’s got children and I’ve got five friends who are having babies next year.

“I would love kids but I just don’t know when. I like my life as it is at the minute. I’m pretty busy doing nothing whereas when you have a baby everything changes.”

Naughty

Brooke, who has played Sophie for a decade, seems friendly and down to earth when she chats with us at ITV’s Manchester studios.

Her character Sophie will play a big part in the Christmas Day episode when she meets her new girlfriend, homeless Maddie Heath, as she works in a soup kitchen on Christmas Day.

Star: Brooke has played Sophie on Coronation Street for a decade (Image: Rachel Joseph)

“Maddie shakes things up, she’s very much a Kylie Platt or Becky McDonald character but a lot worse,” joked Brooke.

“She’s very demanding and hard to read – you’re intrigued by her. I think she’s a good match for Sophie, who stands her ground with her.

"They’re both feisty and want to get one over on each other.

“Sophie likes her because she’s naughty.”

Sophie, who split up with physio-therapist Jenna Kamara ­earlier this year, hits it off with Maddie, played by Amy Kelly, 18 – but mum Sally Webster (Sally Dynevor), takes an instant dislike to her daughter’s new girlfriend.

“Sally doesn’t really want to come to the soup kitchen but Sophie makes her,” said Brooke. “When we go there she’s like: ‘Oh look at the grateful faces,’ but Maddie comes in and wrecks that.

“She pushes Sally’s face in a trifle and they get off to a really bad start. We go back to the soup kitchen and things keep happening, such as Sally’s bag ­going missing.”

The soap star, who has ­appeared in Coronation Street since she was 11, said she is looking ­forward to seeing her character’s new romance develop.

“I think all three of Sophie’s girlfriends have been very different,” she said. “Sian was Sophie’s first love, then she had more of a grown up relationship with Jenna.

“I think she’s praying for the third time lucky with this one.”

As Brooke signed a new two-year contract with Corrie earlier this year her great storylines will keep on coming.

“I’m happy here. I like my routine and I like who I work with,” she said.

“Being an actress, why would you leave somewhere so amazing when there’s a chance you might not get anything else?

“I’d like to see a different side to Sophie, she’s always the strong one who does the right thing.

“I’d like to see her turn psycho and go off the rails.”

Abuse

The soap moves to a new home in Salford in the New Year, which will also see actor Michael Le Vell return to work after being found not guilty of child sex abuse in September.

“It’s always good when Mike’s about, I feel like I’ve got my family back,” says Brooke.

“Mike and Sally have been a massive part of my life since I was 11 – you spend most of your time with your family on set, you do so many different storylines.

“I never doubted Mike but then again I know him whereas a lot of people don’t.

“I was 100 per cent supportive of him – it’s hard to relate to things like that and know which route to take, but it sorted itself out and I’m so glad it’s over for him.

Fun: Brook and her footballer boyfriend Josh (Image: XPOSURE PHOTOS)

“He is a very strong man and he deserves to have it laid to rest and carry on with his life. He’s excited to come back to work.”

The beauty said she had been in touch with the actor, 48, since his ordeal ended.

“I spoke to him a few days after the court case ended and said are you going in the jungle for I’m A Celebrity… because I thought he was going in,” she laughed. “He said no, not that I know of.

“I didn’t believe him for ages until the show came out and he wasn’t in the jungle.

“I’ve not seen him yet though. I missed Mike coming back, I missed Alan Halsall’s new baby, it always happens when I’m not here.”

But Brooke­ – who looks amazing in our exclusive festive photo shoot – says being in the public eye can make her private life more difficult.

She said: “I don’t really let things bother me but there was a recent article about how I’d lost my diary and it had all my sex secrets in it, which just wasn’t true – as if I would keep a diary like that.”

“It’s not me that it bothers, I have to go round and explain to my nan and grandad.

“They don’t always get it, they don’t always understand.

“You have to go home and ­explain things to your family.

“Josh had to go and tell his nan and grandad, it’s just embarrassing.”

Despite being in the full glare of the media, she tries not to obsess about the way she looks.

“I feel confident about the way I look sometimes and sometimes I don’t, just like every girl,” she admits.

“I’ve just had chippy and McDonald’s. I wish I did feel pressure about the way I look.

“I was sitting there earlier eating my chicken and thinking, I’m sure I’m meant to be eating healthily this week.

“I forget and just eat what I want. But then again I don’t eat a lot. If I do get a bit chubby I just lay off my McDonald’s for a couple of weeks.”

The actress still lives at home with her mum and said she had no plans to spread her wings.

“I say I can’t wait for my own house but the one thing that stops me is I do go and see Josh a lot, so there wouldn’t be much point.

“And when I do go down to see Josh my washing will still be there when I get back, whereas when I leave my house I just bob it on the landing and it’s done.

“The only way I’d move out is to get a dog because I’m not allowed to have one at home.”

But for now the actress is focusing on Christmas, and is looking forward to spending some of her time off with Josh.

“I had 29 presents to get for people and I’ve only got four left now,” she says.

“We were filming Christmas scenes in Corrie in October – it’s made me more organised and I feel like I’ve been ready for ages.”

Brooke said she loves going away with her family at Christmas time but when she’s at home she sits down to watch the ITV soap like other families.

“I’m made to watch Coronation Street on Christmas Day,” she laughed. “It’s ­tradition – people have their Christmas dinner, sit down, watch telly and fall asleep.

“I don’t watch it on my own but if I’m at the girls or my nana and grandad’s I’m made to, nobody speaks at half seven, that’s that.”